Filmmaker Lee Daniels exemplifies the focus, boldness, and hard-working grit it takes to become a successful black filmmaker. Openly gay at the age of 50, Daniels has built a lifetime of career achievements, from working up to owner of a profitable nursing home, to working up from casting assistant to casting director, to building a talent management empire. With as much success as Daniels has had he could no doubt become a powerful force in Hollywood, yet he continues to produces Indies to cater an issue close to his heart, the depiction of blacks on the big screen. Born Lee Louis Daniels on December 24th, 1959 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Daniels expereinced his fair share of heart-ache early on. While attending Junior High School, his father was shot and killed in the line of duty. He watched his mother, Clara Daniels go on supporting five school-aged children. This image of diligence push him later in life.
He enrolled in Lindenwood College in St. Louis, Missouri, planning to study theatre and film. However, he saw little connection between the information he was being taught and the actual Entertainment industry. So, with $7 to his name, he quit, heading off to L.A. to write screenplays. A path also chosen by his sister, Leah Daniels-Burton, who was then a casting director for Warner Brothers Television.
Times came down hard on Daniels in L.A. and he recognized the need for financial stability. He worked at a nursing agency, dispatching caregivers to treat a number of crippling diseases. Here, the image of his mother's dilegence served him well. He advanced from dispatcher, to manager, to owner, expanded the nursing staff from 5 to 500 and garned 1 Million dollars by the age of 21.
A producer, whose mother Daniels established care for, saw Daniel's tenacity and suggested he get into casting. He started out as a casting assistant and rose to casting director in two short years. Wanting to ascend even higher, he left casting to form Lee Daniels Entertainment, a respected talent, management agency in New York City. For over 20 years Lee Daniels Entertainment guided the careers of many successful actors in both theatre, television, and films including Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Loretta Devine, and Morgan Freeman.
In 1995, Daniels came across a script about a disturbing bi-racial romance. The project had been turned down by directors Sean Penn & Oliver Stone, and actors Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro, and Tommy Lee Jones. Despite this, Daniels saw potential in it, admiring the script for it's honest portrayal. "Remained true to the world I know - the black world".
Daniels beef with Hollywood was always it's depiction of blacks. He hated the standard portrayals of black being over-sexed or laughable, and decided he should do something about it. Daniels left the entertainment management business to produce an interracial drama destined to become the anti-Hollywood classic known as Monster's Ball.
With a meager 2.5 million dollar budget, Daniels signed swiss born independent director Marc Foster fresh off Sundance's Everything Put Together. Next, he searched for two leads whom could play the unlikely pairing of a destitute roadhouse waitress and a racist prison guard. Halle Berry hammered away at Daniels until she was given the role, also agreeing to work for bare minimum pay.
Monster's Ball was nominated for two Oscars at the 74th Academy Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actress. That night, Halle Berry became the first African-American woman to win the Best Actress statutette, also marking Daniels as the first African-American to solely produce an Acadmey Award winning film.
After the Oscar win, Daneisl saw a new day for black talent. "Blacks still have to go out and make it happen. I don't think things are going to be offered too us. We have to take it."
Shortly after he made he produced The Woodsman, staring Kevin Bacon and Mos Def in 2004. Then made his directorial debut in 2006 with The Shadowboxer, starring Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr.
2007 & 2008 proved to be busy for the trailblazer. He produced Tennessee, a tale of brothers, one terminally ill, and their trek to New Mexico to find their father. Mariah Carey co-stars in Tennessee as well as Precious, Daniels other endeavor that year. Precious is the story of an overweight girl in Brooklyn who is abused by her parents and pregnant with her second child. The film also stars Mo'Nique, newcomer Gabourery Sidibe, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz, and Paula Patton.
Daniels is known as an actor's director. Often taking risks with with casting such as Mariah Carey as a social worker in Precious, and Sean "Diddy" Combs as a prison inmate in Monster's Ball. In 2004, Daniels briefly dipped into politics, producing public service announcements to inspire people of color to vote. The project was requested by Harlem neighbor Bill Clinton, featured Alicia Keys and LL Cool J, and was launched in March of 2004.
"Material that is raw, with a powerful statements makes great film" - Lee Daniels (one of the greatest independent black filmmakers of our time)
AWARDS:
1 AFI Film Award Nomination (Movie of the Year, Monster's Ball, 2002)
1 Urbanworld Film Festival Award (Visionary Award, Monster's Ball, 2002)
1 Indpedent Spirit Award Nominations (Best First Feature, The Woodsman, 2005)
2 Sundance Awards (Audience Award;Dramatic, Precious, 2009);(Grand Jury Award;Dramatic, Precious, 2009)
SOURCES:
Answers.ComLee Daniels Entertainment
Wikipedia
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